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Home >> Press Center >> Mercy Awards Community Grants

Mercy Awards Community Grants
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Contact: Melissa Jue
Phone: 916.851.2052
 
Mercy Gives $525,811 in Grants to Help Thousands of People in Need
23 local non-profits receive grants to help fund programs in Sacramento, Nevada, Placer and Yolo counties
 
SACRAMENTO, January 23, 2009 - Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), which operates the local Mercy hospitals, has awarded $525,811 in grant funding to 23 nonprofit organizations in Nevada, Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties.
 
The grants, from $5,000 to $25,000, will impact health issues ranging from mental illness to chronic disease management, and community-based programs that provide services from birth to end-of-life. This year's recipient organizations reach out to local ethnic communities and provide services to multiple generations from infants to the elderly.
 
"Our annual Community Grants Program is one of the important ways we are able to help deliver critical healthcare and social services to those in need," says Mercy's Sacramento Service Area President Tim Moran. "We are proud to work collaboratively with so many outstanding organizations to improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve."
 
"Last year in the greater Sacramento region, CHW and the Mercy hospitals distributed $491,500 to deserving projects and organizations," said Moran. "Despite the economic crisis, this year is no different. In fact, the need is greater. This year, we are awarding nearly $526,000 to support local nonprofit efforts."
 
The CHW Community Grants Program supports community-based organizations that provide services to individuals, families and children in need. The grants program is open to all non-profit service organizations with an interest in building healthier communities by improving health and living conditions. The program supports organizations attempting to address the underlying causes of illness - such as physical and substance abuse, neglect, poverty and homelessness - as well as specific health issues. The grants are funded by contributions from Catholic Healthcare West's member hospitals.
 
This year's Community Grants were awarded to the following Sacramento-area organizations:
  • Catholic Charities of Sacramento - Downtown Senior Outreach Program provides linkages to healthcare, dental care, mental health services and other community resources in addition to follow-up visits.
  • Center for Community Health and Well-Being, Inc. - Provides preventative pediatric and post-partum care for low-income women and children.
  • Domestic Violence and Assault Coalition (Grass Valley) - Offers educational presentations and counseling groups to pre-teens and teens to address issues and attitudes that can lead to partnership violence and sexual assault.
  • FamiliesFirst, Inc. (Davis) - Families First Nursery provides short-term, home-like residential respite care for children while parents resolve situational family problems that could lead to neglect and abuse.
  • FREED Center for Independent Living (Grass Valley) - The Friendly Visitor Program provides services to seniors and adults with disabilities that reduce isolation and increase social and support networks resulting in the prevention or alleviation of mental and physical chronic health conditions.
  • The Friendship club (Nevada City) - After school fitness program for girls to address the problem of obesity.
  • The Gathering Inn (Roseville) - Access to recovery Program will be an intensive outpatient program for any person over the age of 18 who identifies drugs or alcohol as a problem.
  • KARE Crisis Nursery (Grass Valley) - Temporary emergency respite care for children while parents receive treatment in Nevada County
  • MAAP - A mobile medical unit to increase early access to primary medical services for people in need.
  • MMC for Children and Families - To expand hours of clinic to provide accessible care outside of regular business hours, evenings and Saturdays.
  • Northern California Children's Therapy Center (Woodland) - Project Hope addresses access to early intervention and multiple therapy programs for low-income and un-insured and under-insured special needs children.
  • Opening Doors - To assist elderly and disabled Hmong refugees with language barriers, transportation and providing access to care.
  • Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery - Temporary emergency respite care for children while parents receive treatment from Sacramento County.
  • Sacramento District Dental Foundation - Smiles for Kids program that addresses unmet dental needs and poor oral health among uninsured children ages 0-18 in five counties.
  • Sacramento Loaves & Fishes - Mental healthcare program will address unmet psychological needs of the local adult homeless population.
  • Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Center (Woodland) - Expand therapy hours for clients and outreach hours will expand up to five hours a week
  • Society for the Blind - Transportation with specially trained drives to provide door to door free transportation to visually impaired people.
  • St. John's Shelter - After-Care Program helps clients successfully reintegrate into society and become empowered members of the community.
  • Stanford Settlement - To provide transportation for low-income seniors as a means of increasing access to primary health services, wellness activities, trips to the grocery store and other activities to promote healthy aging.
  • Wellspring Women's Center - A bilingual outreach coordinator to reduce the number of unmet health needs of Spanish-speaking women and their families.
  • Women's Empowerment - Educate and empower homeless women with the skills and confidence necessary to get a job, maintain a healthy lifestyle and regain a  home for themselves and their children.
  • Yolo Community Care Continuum (Davis) - A part-time nurse to provide TB tests, health education and basic health screenings to those experiencing a mental health crisis.
  • Yolo Family Service Agency (Woodland) - Low-income counseling services to subsidize the cost of counseling for parents and children who do not have private insurance and cannot afford counseling from private practitioners.
Catholic Healthcare West has awarded community grants every year since 1990. Since then,  CHW has distributed $4.7 million to 216 organizations in the Sacramento area and $31 million to deserving projects throughout the CHW system. Grant recipients are required to complete a detailed grant proposal outlining the purpose and scope of the project to be funded, as well as the population to be served, the project's outcomes, plans for its long-term operation and measurement of success. The projects must be in the area of healthcare, social services, education, economic development or holistic health.
 
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About Catholic Healthcare West
Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), headquartered in San Francisco, CA, is a system of 42 hospitals and medical centers in California, Arizona and Nevada. Founded in 1986, it is the eighth largest hospital system in the nation and the largest not-for-profit provider in California. CHW is committed to delivering compassionate, high-quality, affordable health care services with special attention to the poor and underserved. The CHW network of more than 7,500 physicians and approximately 40,000 employees provides health care services to more than four million people annually. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.mercysacramento.org.